Clone Commando/Super Battle Droid - TAC - Comic Packs (No. 16)

Only one clone commando lives to report what happened on the derelict factory moon of Asturias. While the commandos are escorting Director Lorca Oviedo, Oviedo's ship malfunctions near Asturias. Coming out of hyperspace, they are attacked by Separatist forces and crash on the moon. The commandos are attacked by super battle droids, droidekas, and battle droids, as a twisted web of lies and betrayals threatens them all.

While the first 20 comics from the Star Wars Tales series were non-canon (most of them made up the Star Wars: Infinities series), issue #21 took a sharp left turn and brought Star Wars Tales back in canon much to the satisfaction of Expanded Universe fans. Star Wars Tales #22 was released shortly before Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith was released in theaters and focused on some events transpiring during the Clone Wars. The same theme of the Clone Wars runs rampant throughout Tales #22 and besides an introduction to new characters there really wasn’t anything that new brought to the table in this storyline. Hasbro also realized that the events in this comic were all too similar decided to take it easy and release a very generic Comic Packs set instead. This is a set where they obviously saved some bucks in tooling costs. Every now and again we have to expect Hasbro to make life a little easier for them and as a result, repaints are inevitable.

Despite the simplicity of the set, you can count the included figures, a Clone Commando and a Super Battle Droid, as new to your collection thanks to their excellent new paint jobs. Clone Commando is a rework of 2006’s TSC Scorch Republic Commando (SAGA 021) figure. For this release, Hasbro gave him an all-new backpack and an all-new sterling white paint job. The Clone Commando still lacks the necessary articulation to make him definitive, but there is no denying that an all-white Clone Commando looks spectacular. Coming with only 10 points of articulation (and inferior swivel shoulder joints), the Clone Commando looks good but isn’t too functional for those who crave “infinite” articulation. He comes with a DC-17m stock mount blaster and he can hold it at the ready just fine. He has some dirt from the terrain on his calves and shoes and his newly tooled backpack fits perfectly via a small plug. Again, this action figure looks so cool. You’ll wish you could army build him.

The Super Battle Droid also looks incredible. Hasbro repainted 2007’s TAC Super Battle Droid (No. 08) figure. Not entirely a straight repaint, Hasbro also tooled two new accessories to accompany it. The first is an incendiary bomb that plugs into one of two chest holes drilled into the chest of the figure. The second all-new accessory is a detonated incendiary bomb with fire that loosely attached to the droid’s leg. These small accessories are flawlessly designed and are awesome additions to the figure. When you have everything all assembled together, the Clone Commando and the Super Battle Droid comprise a perfect pair. We mentioned army building. Well, in all actuality, this is indeed a perfect set to buy multiple times for that purpose. This Comic Packs set contains two generic characters, a clone and a Separatist droid. And the pictures in the included comic book show them as multiple fighting in battle against each other. Don’t expect this one to be an easy find years after the fact. People will hoard this one definitely. (Editor's Note: Special thanks to Jayson Krebsbach from Yakface.com for the reference images. Reference images edited by Jedi Temple Archives and Jayson Krebsbach.)